Hi Everyone!
Here is this week's Something of Meaning, a few thoughts that will hopefully help you cultivate a little creativity, connection, and community in your life, and bring you a little joy along the way. If you feel inspired, please feel free to forward this to friends.
An Idea for Consideration
My North Star: why I chose Creativity, Connection, and Community
If there were no one to listen, we would not be called to speak.
I believe that creating and sharing our deepest selves, and witnessing and celebrating each other, is an essential nutrient for our humanity. I am dedicated to building a community where we can do that together, a community where vulnerability is met with deep listening and held in high esteem.
Here is how I currently define Creativity, Connection, and Community:
Creativity is the process of manifesting what I am deeply called to see in the world. It includes being conscious of my inputs (my attentional consumption habits), practicing my craft, caring for my mind and body to enable the best conditions for creation, and a consistent practice of creating meaningful work.
Connection starts with bringing consciousness to my inner world, and the practice of noticing what moves me deeply, what my Quiet Voice is saying. It is also practicing awareness of the world around me, noticing both what moves me, and also how my actions affect others as I move through the world.
Community is engaging and serving the people that want to share in my work. The community is made up of collaborators, mentors, readers, listeners, viewers, students, and practitioners. Every member of the community is an essential part of my work; the community is literally my reason for doing what I do.
I hope you will join me on this journey. I look forward to seeing what we all create together.
A Question I've Found Helpful
Seth Godin says that the question “what would you do if you knew you could not fail?” is not super helpful because it’s a “genie question,” an impossibility. He suggests instead that we ask the following:
What would you do if you knew you would fail? What would be worth doing, even though it’s not gonna work?
Something I Find Interesting
Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale (Youtube - 3 Min)
This is an entertaining look into our collective capacity to create; humans all over the world have been singing for a long long time, and our voices have so much power to bring us joy.
A Quote That Inspires Me
“What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Kind", said the boy.”
― Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
If you'd like to explore what else I've been up to this week, you can read my latest blog post, listen to my latest podcast episode, or check out the music I've been creating on Youtube.
Until next time, I wish all of you the best in your journey to make something of meaning.
Much love,
Aidan